The only federal program dedicated to family planning will be critical to the job of providing and expanding women’s health care under the Affordable Care Act. But several states are attempting to restrict Title X at the very time it is needed most.

A mother-in-law often dictates family planning decisions for the younger women in her household. Some health reformers are trying to change that dynamic through counseling efforts and discussion groups.

With female sterilizations pushed as the primary mode of fertility control in Andhra Pradesh, post-operative complications have caused women to undergo needless hysterectomies and endure side effects they never expected.

Rural Mexican women feel the push from the government to limit births and the pull of requests for sex from spouses who reject condoms and vasectomies, writes Vania Smith-Oka in this excerpt from “Shaping the Motherhood of Indigenous Mexico.”

Catholic opposition has kept a Philippines birth-control law passed in 2012 from reaching the women in shanties, where the birth rate is booming. Our reporter visits a woman who wanted three children and wound up with eight, aged 2 to 21.

A major battle is underway in the United States over covering the costs of family planning. But in international circles, support for contraception is gaining momentum, boosted by two recent studies and billions in fresh funding pledges.

More women are slated to take the reins of Fortune 500 companies than ever before, USA Today reported Oct. 26. If no woman steps down before the start of the New Year, there will be 18 women running Fortune 500 companies in 2012. Previously, there haven’t been more than 16 females running Fortune 500 firms at the same time.

Nepal has halved its fertility rate over 30 years, but rural women are still experiencing many pregnancies and scant help during labor. One woman’s story made it onto a radio station and helped save her life.

Obama this week stood up for Medicare, which faces cuts in a GOP proposal for 2012. On Equal Pay Day, the Wall Street Journal ran a column saying women’s wages are just fine, spurring an action alert by the Women’s Media Center.

In Case You Missed It

It is being hailed as the most progressive state policy so far, going further than New Jersey, California and Rhode Island in various respects. But its showcase potential won’t be tested until the program gets going in 2018.